Add a new page

Search Disney

Subscribe!

Disney Pixar

Pixar

Pixar, which was originally the computer graphics division of Lucas Film, LTD was founded by George Lucas and Ed Catmull. John Lassater (formally at Disney) joined the team in 1984. In 1986 Steve Jobs bought the computer graphics division of Lucas Film for $10 million and became the CEO until 2006 when Disney and Pixar merged. Once Pixar moved beyond short demonstration clips and into the world of entertainment animation, Pixar became one of the leading animation corporations, leading the way with custom innovations.

Disney and Pixar's Relationship

Disney had always been an important partner for the distribution of Pixar's films. Prior to Toy Story, they had an agreement to produce three more films together. Unfortunately, there started to become problems between the two corporations. Michael Eisner, then CEO of Disney, and Steve Jobs had very difficult time reaching a negotiation. Once Eisner was removed and replaced by Robert Iger, negotiations resumed and eventually they agreed to merge companies.

The Merger

In January of 2006, it became official that Disney was going to buy Pixar for $7.4 Billion (all in stocks). Even the price was very high it was an important move for Disney to help return its animation to the place it once was. During the age of Eisener, Disney's animation had been greatly criticized for not living up to its potential. One of the crucial aquasitions for Disney from Pixar was the new Chief Creative Officer John Lassater, who has recently produced Disney's most recent animated film, Bolt. As a result of the merger, Steve Jobs no longer works for Pixar and has become a member of the board of directors of Disney. As Jobs describes the benefits of the merger:

"Disney and Pixar can now collaborate without the barriers that come from two different companies with two different sets of shareholders," said Jobs in a statement. "Now, everyone can focus on what is most important, creating innovative stories, characters and films that delight millions of people around the world."

Although Pixar gets to keep most of its traditional business plan, the main change is that all films produced post-merger must be released as a "Disney-Pixar" production.

Pixar's Influence

Pixar has already started to influence Disney in a positive way. Firstly, Pixar is already eliminated Disney's "embarrassing" tradition of making bad sequels to high quality films. Secondly, the training of computer animators for Pixar is much less time consumer for animators for Disney, making them generally more productive. The overall products